The Museum of Dungeons & Dragons Is A Go! Funding Begins

We discussed here on the forums various potential locations for a D&D museum, the plans for which Luke Gygax was bandying about. Well, now the folks involved in this museum have launched a crowdfunding project on IndieGoGo to make this idea a reality. They need $150,000 in the next 60 days - a far from unsurmountable goal given the amounts some recent RPG Kickstarters have made.

For many years, we’ve been thinking about all of the collections that just get thrown out or given away to people who don't know what they are. We personally saw a pile of D&D books destroyed by a local charitable organization. I'm sure the person who donated them didn't want that, and the entire idea of books being destroyed makes us cringe.

Hearing about Dave Arneson's collection being found in a storage shed has really pushed us to move forward on finding a permanent location for the museum. The founders of this game and the original gamers are aging, and more and more collections like this will be destroyed if something isn't done soon.

Getting across our passion for the game online isn't easy. Maybe the best way to describe it is the way we explain it at conventions: we consider ourselves paladins of Dungeons & Dragons. Rather like Varys from Game of Thrones is a champion of the kingdom - no matter who sits on the throne, the kingdom must survive.

Without the contributions of E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, the world would be a different place. They created the concept of fantasy roleplaying games. Without them, we'd all be playing wargames. Video games wouldn't exist in their current form (although video wargames may have been developed).

We will be opening the museum’s new location in 2014 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the release of Dungeons & Dragons. The timing will be tight, as we have to find the right place to house the museum in a permanent resting place, build it out (i.e. put in necessary walls and ceilings), then design and build all of the museum's displays. But plans are in place to get it done, and you will be kept updated every step of the way!

We have spent a lot of time planning over the past few years, including locations. We have decided to let you, our supporters, choose where the museum should be located. Once we fund, we will send an email to everyone on our mailing list with a link to a survey, so you can vote on where we will be opening (Yes, we're willing to move to the other end of the country if that's where you want the museum to be - we are THAT dedicated to this cause!). There are four locations that we consider appropriate to the game:

1A. Lake Geneva, WI Where it all started, and where many of the artists and game designers who worked for TSR still reside. This area is rich with D&D gaming history. Also, it is fairly centrally located in the US

1B. Orlando, FL Dave Arneson taught game design in this area for many years. In addition, it is an area where most people will travel at least once in their lives (Disney World is located there, after all). It would be the most likely to allow international fans of D&D to visit the museum.

2A. Indianapolis, IN Where GenCon (where D&D became a smash hit) is currently being held. Tens of thousands of gaming fans flock to this area every summer.

2B. Renton, WA Where Wizards of the Coast, the publisher of Dungeons & Dragons since 1997, is headquartered.

One of the missions of the museum will be to spread knowledge of the history of the game to as many people as possible. This will be done, in part, through traveling displays at as many conventions throughout the country as possible. (For instance, we know MANY gamers who started playing in 2000, and have never held a copy of the older products, or looked through them to see if there are ideas in them that they can bring to their current game. Likewise, gamers who stopped moving to new editions at some point might gain ideas from new products.)

The museum's first planned expansion will include related/licensed products like Judge's Guild and the D20 products. Future plans include adding wings to the museum for other RPGs. We hope to do three different sections - science fiction, fantasy, and horror. These would include both older and current games.

If they are asking funding for a museum they should provide much more information. What is their current collection? What do they plan to acquire? What kind of business plan do they have? They aren't publishing a book, but they want to organize a long-term activity.

Also, for the higher pledges, shouldn't they give more than a single entrance? For 60 euros I get unlimited yearly entrances at a couple of museums in Rome...

'Can a magician kill a man by magic?' Lord Wellington asked Strange. Strange frowned. He seemed to dislike the question. 'I suppose a magician might,' he admitted, 'but a gentleman never could.'

I’m sorry that it seems that way. Our research (and advisors) said that it was important to not to be too verbose on the pledge page. We would be happy to answer any questions you might have.

Originally Posted by Nikosandros

What is their current collection? What do they plan to acquire? What kind of business plan do they have?

As it says on the funding page, the initial collection is valued at approximately one-quarter of a million dollars. That is just the D&D section of the collection, and includes items from Chainmail through 4th Edition. It does include many very rare and hard-to find items, including a variety of promotional items.

But of course, it also includes things like a 2nd Edition Player’s Handbook, as it was the first book many gamers owned, so has a strong place in gaming history.

The plan is to first acquire the items which are not in this collection, then to acquire additional copies of the items already on loan to the museum.
The business plan is in draft at this point, as it cannot be finalized until the final location is chosen, so initial and annual costs can be calculated. The staff will be primarily volunteer (with a small annual payment to the curators, primarily for legal reasons, and not to cover our living expenses, which will be taken care of through other means). We do have volunteers in place who have experience with obtaining government grants, which will be used to expand the museum’s collection, and cover additional expenses as needed. However, in order to file for these grants, the museum must be open and operating for at least one year.

Originally Posted by Nikosandros

Also, for the higher pledges, shouldn't they give more than a single entrance? For 60 euros I get unlimited yearly entrances at a couple of museums in Rome...

The free entrance is at the FIRST pledge ($15), and is primarily intended as a thank-you, and something you wouldn’t need to use, but would frame or put in a souvenir book. The entrance cost will not be fixed, but will operate as a donation (very similar to what the Museum of Natural History in New York City does).

Please feel free to email us with any questions you might have, for this museum will belong to all of us, and we are happy to provide whatever information you might require.

Who are Jim and Debbie Hunton? I'm not "connected" or "in the know" about who's who in D&D, but I don't recognize these names.

Nor would we expect you to recognize our names.

We are not all that active in the online gaming communities, but have regularly run D&D games at conventions for the RPGA (DDXP, Origins, GenCon, even New York ComicCon), and run games at our local stores. We have played D&D from the original, up to and including being part of the Friends & Family, public, and other playtests for D&D Next.

We’ve only missed one GenCon since 1991. We’ve spent extensive time talking with many of the people who made history in the game: Gary Gygax, Dave Arneson, Lou Zocchi, Larry Elmore, James Ward, Peter Atkison, Mike Mearls, Bill Slavisek, and others.

We have spoken on the phone or online with many people regarding the museum: Peter Atkison (whose company donated GenCon badges to the campaign), Larry Elmore (who chose the pieces we have of his on the page, and will be donating a display from GenCon to the museum), Jeff Easley (also donating art), Todd Lockwood (again, donating art), Diesel LaForce (who is swamped with other work, and is not donating at this time, but whose pieces will be on display and for sale at the museum), James Ward (who provided many great ideas for the museum and is going to give us the “Grand Gygax Tour” of Lake Geneva during the upcoming GaryCon), Tim Brown (writer of many 2nd Edition books, including Dragon Kings, one of my favorites), Dave Baldman (who runs Winter Fantasy, formerly DDXP), Mike Mearls (currently working on D&D Next) … there are others I’m sure I’m forgetting.

So, although you might not recognize our names, or see them much online, if you’ve been to a gaming convention, you would probably recognize our faces. We are also published authors of a series of collector’s guides for D&D, so know much more of the history of the game than the average gamer.

As always, free to email us with any questions you might have, for this museum will belong to all of us, and we are happy to provide whatever information you might require.

Btw, I don't think any of the locations you have listed are good ones from a business perspective.

Years down the road, you can always open up a second museum in Lake Geneva (most likely not, but who can tell?). But, I've been gaming for well over 30 years and have never visited Lake Geneva, even for a convention. It was always just too many thousands of miles away from where I lived and cost too much to fly there just to go to a convention.

From a business and population perspective, you should pick a totally unrelated place, probably somewhere in the northeast corridor of the US where people actually go. However, having said this, many places in the northeast have high costs of living. So, you need to find a place off the intersection of at least two major freeways where the cost of living might not be super high. It doesn't have to be in the northeast, but it has to be somewhere with a lot of people. You need volume if you are going to succeed and D&D is just such a niche hobby that you won't succeed without a great location (shy of begging for donations every year).

Baseball or Football Hall of Fame. Those can be anywhere cause literally 10s of millions of people in the US like or love those games respectively. D&D probably has a heavy draw of about a quarter million people in the US at best, and an acquainted with draw of maybe a million or so. The vast majority of people will tend to ONLY go to this museum if they are passing by for some other reason. So, you need to locate it near high population and if possible, high tourist locations.

Having it within an hour at most of one or two of the major conventions wouldn't hurt for an additional draw as well.

You should also charge a fee at the door as opposed to relying on donations. You can still have donations, but $5 at the door ($3 for teenagers/kids, $0 for real small kids) isn't going to break anyone (course, the amount you charge people should be based on your business plan, it should be carefully thought out based on expenses and potential draw of people). The Museum of Natural History has donors, but it still charges a fee ($33 based on their web site). You need to charge a fee to make this a viable business. Have you ever run a business before? If not, you should solicit help from gamers who have. If you want this to succeed, you have to get it right, or it will go by the way of the Dodo.

You have to treat this like a business and that means, picking a good location in the US, not the most nostalgic one. Sorry, but otherwise, you will probably be doomed to failure. Insurance, rental, salaries, even advertising. These will eat you alive without a steady form of income. I really don't think you can rely on online donations every year.

Keep it away from hurricane / tornado areas because some of the material you'll have there will be very difficult to replace. No flood zones.

PS. You should also have a small concession stand and eating area where you sell food and drink. Maybe not right away, but eventually. You will have low turnout as a general rule, so you need to get a few extra bucks out of each person who visits. Make it look like a tavern.

The first sign of a broken rule is when someone suggests that the way to stop it is by readying an action.

First, we want to give a heartfelt “Thank you” for the well-considered opinions and questions. We are definitely happy to discuss our plans and thoughts in detail, and hope that our passion for the game and the museum come across, even through these more professional posts.

Originally Posted by KarinsDad

From a business and population perspective, you should pick a totally unrelated place… D&D probably has a heavy draw of about a quarter million people in the US at best, and an acquainted with draw of maybe a million or so. The vast majority of people will tend to ONLY go to this museum if they are passing by for some other reason. So, you need to locate it near high population and if possible, high tourist locations.

The best option would be the one where the most people will visit the museum. The only way we can truly determine this is through the survey we will be sending out once we fund. We don’t want to put it somewhere completely unconnected to the game, though. We would be happy to consider somewhere in the NE US if there was a connection to the game.

As for the draw, Wikipedia says that approximately 20 million people have played D&D. Most of them remember it fondly, and would love to re-capture a piece of their youth.

Originally Posted by KarinsDad

You should also charge a fee at the door as opposed to relying on donations. You can still have donations, but $5 at the door ($3 for teenagers/kids, $0 for real small kids) isn't going to break anyone (course, the amount you charge people should be based on your business plan, it should be carefully thought out based on expenses and potential draw of people). The Museum of Natural History has donors, but it still charges a fee ($33 based on their web site). You need to charge a fee to make this a viable business. Have you ever run a business before? If not, you should solicit help from gamers who have. If you want this to succeed, you have to get it right, or it will go by the way of the Dodo.

The museum in NYC has signs up which say “Suggested Donation: Adults $10, Children 5-15 $5, Children under 5 $1” (although the prices might be somewhat different now). Most people give the suggested donation. Many give more. Some cannot give that much, but everyone gives something. We don’t want to turn away anyone just because they don’t have enough money.

And yes, we have run businesses before, both our own, and as employees. We also have lawyers, business managers, accountants, and others who have volunteered their services to the museum, so we are well supported. 

Originally Posted by KarinsDad

You have to treat this like a business and that means, picking a good location in the US, not the most nostalgic one. Sorry, but otherwise, you will probably be doomed to failure. Insurance, rental, salaries, even advertising. These will eat you alive without a steady form of income. I really don't think you can rely on online donations every year.

We will not be relying on donations online, although we will, of course, be relying on entry donations to a point. Grants will provide a regular source of funds for the museum (we can begin to file for them once we have been open for a year), as well as sales in the gift shop (which will also be online, and function as an online game store too).

Originally Posted by KarinsDad

PS. You should also have a small concession stand and eating area where you sell food and drink. Maybe not right away, but eventually. You will have low turnout as a general rule, so you need to get a few extra bucks out of each person who visits. Make it look like a tavern.

Good idea, as long as the local codes and such allow it, AND we have enough room for it. We will definitely add it to the list, thanks!